Isaiah 51:1-11: Assurance of Salvation

Translation and sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 25 Nov. 2007

 

Translation:

1. Listen to me, pursuers of righteousness, seekers of Jehovah.

Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the excavation pit from which you were dug.

2. Look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who went into labor with you.

For I called one of him and blessed him and multiplied him.

3. So Jehovah comforted Zion.

He comforted all her dry places

and set her wilderness like Eden

and her desert like the garden of Jehovah.

4. Pay attention to me, my people, and my community. To me give hear,

for from me a law will go out, and my judgment for a light of peoples I will stir.

5. My righteousness is near,

my salvation has gone out,

and my arm will judge peoples.

For me the coastlands eagerly wait, and for my arm they hope.

6. Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look to the earth beneath,

for the heavens will be dissolved like the smoke,

and the earth like wear out like the garment,

and her inhabitants will die likewise,

but my salvation will exist forever, and my righteousness will not come undone.

7. Listen to me, knowers of righteousness - people in whose heart is my law;

do not fear the reproach of man, and from their revilings, do not come undone.

8. For a moth will eat them like the garment,

and a worm will eat them like wool,

but my righteousness will exist forever, and my salvation to generation upon generations.

9. Awake! Awake, arm of Jehovah! Put on strength!

Awake like the days of old - the eternal generations.

Were you not the one that cut Rahab to pieces, piercing the dragon?

10. Were you not the one that dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep –

the one that set a way (in the) depths of the sea for the redeemed ones to pass over?

 

11. So the ransomed of Jehovah will turn

and come to Zion with singing, everlasting gladness upon their head.

They will obtain joy and gladness;

sorrow and sighing have fled!

 

Introduction: Promises and Disappointment

Have you ever trusted someone and then been disappointed? My family was pretty disappointed last week when they rented a video of a musical that was highly recommended by a history textbook my kids were using. The author of the textbook had called the movie a “personal all-time favorite” with a great cast and wonderful songs. My family discovered pretty quickly that there’s a reason why that musical never made it very big. In the words of one of my boys, it was “really boring fluff.”

 

Promises – especially in advertisements - don’t always deliver.

 

But here in Isaiah chapter 51 is an advertisement with promises that seem too good to be true.
Here is a product called “righteousness and salvation” which is

 

Is God’s promise worth waiting for, or will it disappoint like so many other things?

 

Can you be sure you’re really saved when you trust in Jesus, or is there any reason to doubt your salvation?

 

Isaiah points to three historical events that should strengthen our assurance in God’s salvation, but first let’s look at the nature of this salvation:

 

What is Salvation?

 

Now that we see what salvation is, let us look at the three historical events that should strengthen our assurance in God’s salvation:

 

1. Abraham

 

2. End of the World

 

3. Exodus (v.9-10)

 

So, Isaiah has shown us what God’s salvation is, and he has shown us three events that illustrate and build our faith in God’s salvation. What do we do with this information?

 

Application

  1. Pay attention; don’t neglect so great a salvation
    1. Seven times in the first seven verses, God calls us to pay attention: “Listen” (v.1), “Look” v.2), “Pay attention… and give ear” (v.4), “Lift up your eyes and look” (v.6), and “listen” (v.7).
    2. If you are not a believer, now is the time to start paying attention and trusting in God’s righteousness and salvation.
    3. Stop looking at and paying attention to other things.

                                                              i.      In 22:8-11, Israel was “looking” to their weapons instead of to God to save them.

                                                            ii.      In 1:23, they were “pursuing” bribes and financial kickbacks,

                                                          iii.      and in 5:11 they were “pursuing” alcohol.

    1. Hebrews 2:1-3  Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.  2  For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,  3  how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,
    2. (v.3) Do you need comfort? Do you have dry places and wildernesses in your life that you want transformed into gardens? Would you like to have joy and gladness? This salvation is worth paying attention to and waiting for!
  1. Fight impatience and discouragement with remembering God’s great acts in history
    1. Calvin quotes: “We know by experience how slow we are to hear Him, especially in adversity , and when we have great need of consolation, we reject it by our impatience and faint… What is here demanded is attention, so sustain our hearts by patience, till the season of grace e fully come… Amidst the distracted condition of the church, it is highly necessary that we may not be discouraged because our number is small and that we may hope for God to increase His church by unexpected methods [as He did with Abraham].”
    2. Rom 4:18-21  In hope [Abraham] believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, "So shall your offspring be."  19  He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb.  20  No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,  21  fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
    3. The remnant will always be small, but don’t be discouraged. God started with one man, Abraham, and has indeed filled the earth with Christians too numerous to count.
    4. I have to remind myself of this in relation to Christ the Redeemer Church.
  2. Use assurance of salvation to combat fear of man and their criticisms
    1. v.7 “fear not the reproach of man and from their revilings do not be dismayed.”
    2. Isaiah described the Israelites as a fearful bunch.

                                                              i.      They were afraid of neighboring kings (7:4),

                                                            ii.      they were afraid of what other people were afraid of (8:12),

                                                          iii.      they were afraid of Assyria (10:24) and of Rabshaqah’s taunts (37:6), to name a few.

    1. “It frequently happens that we are more moved by the insults of men than by fire and sword, but we ought to reckon it praise and glory to be the object of their contempt. True valor springs from this consideration, that, although the world reject us as ‘filth and offscourings,’ (I Cor. 4:13), God holds us in estimation, because we maintain the same cause with Himself.”
    2. If God’s word and righteousness are what will last – not men – then don’t fear men! (v.7) They have already been proclaimed “worm food!”
    3. “The smallest [animals] are quite sufficient to annihilate [man’s] sham-greatness and sham-power!” (Delitzsch)
    4.  “Men are afraid of many things – mostly of what man can do to them. There is only one way such fear can be overcome, and that is to know righteousness and possess the law in one’s heart.” (Young)
    5. It is instructive to note that God is the one who gave His people over to reviling in 43:28 because of their sin. If somebody makes fun of you, you just might deserve it to some extent. It just might be God’s way of bringing up your sin against Him and calling you back to Him to trust Him.
  1. Pursue righteousness and hide God’s law in your heart.
    1. v.1 “you who pursue righteousness, who seek Jehovah” – the Hebrew word for “pursue” means to chase after, to actively and vigorously go after (Young). Do you vigorously pursue God and His righteousness?
      Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled” (Mt. 5:6)
    2. v.7 We “know righteousness” when we are people “in whose heart is [God’s] law.” God’s law, His instruction, the Bible,  teaches us what righteousness is, and so we need to lay the words of the Bible on our hearts, reading it, listening to it read, and memorizing it. This is how we know righteousness.
      Psalm 119:11  Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.
    3. Peter also exhorts us to live righteous lives in light of eternity: 2 Peter 3:9-15  “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.  10  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.  11  Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,  12  waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!  13  But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.  14  Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.  15  And count the patience of our Lord as salvation…”
  2. Live in light of eternity
    1. v.6-8 command us to remember the end of the world
    2. Keep in mind what will last forever. It won’t be your house or your job or your toys, or your collection, or your achievements, it will be God and His salvation and righteousness that lasts after the earth is destroyed.
    3. Matt. 6:19-20  "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,  20  but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
    4. How do we lay up treasure in heaven? By investing what we have in God’s salvation and righteousness. Give your money generously, and spend your time generously on prayer, service, and evangelism.
    5. Spread the Gospel to the coasts – How long must the isles wait to hear the good news of salvation through Jesus? (v.5) How long will they live in darkness before they see the light God established for the Gentiles (v.4)? Let us pray for our missionaries and support them and consider who among us can go as well.
  3. Follow Isaiah’s example and pray for the fulfillment of the promises
    1. In verse 9, Isaiah ‘gets it.’ God had said to remember the history of salvation and righteousness in Abraham and Sarah, so now Isaiah continues in obedience by bringing up God’s righteousness and salvation in the Exodus.
    2. v.11 is then either Isaiah looking to the future with assurance of God’s salvation and without fear, or it may be God answering Isaiah’s faith with the assurance that this kind of faith will result in great joy.
    3. Calvin wrote, “When God cheers us by His promises, we ought also to pray earnestly that He would perform what He has promised. He does not comfort us in order to be slothful, but that we may be enflamed with a stronger desire to pray.”
    4. What promises has God made in His word that you yourself could pray?
      IDEA: God’s word has not yet been translated into every tongue. You could pray, “Lord, let the ‘knowledge of the glory of the Lord cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.’ (Hab. 2:14) You raised up Martin Luther to translate the Bible into German; you raised up John Wycliffe to translate the Bible into English; arise now, Lord, thrust forth new laborers into the fields so that Your word can be translated into every tongue!”

 

Conclusion

 

 

Nate Wilson’s website – Isaiah Sermon Expositions

 

Christ the Redeemer Church website - Sermons